Thursday, August 15 and time to move on to another harbor. After a crew meeting to discuss the weather and sea conditions we all agreed that we should shoot over to Nantucket for a couple of days.
I just revisited three previous blog posts about trips to Nantucket. Each of them covered some great places and things about Nantucket. I have a love-hate relationship with Nantucket. I love the history, the cobblestone Main Street and architecture, the Whaling Museum, Siasconset, and the open spaces and beaches, but……. the amount of wealth and summer crowds are off putting at times. Lots of times.
Our past trips for a more detailed look at the island:
Given how much has already been in the blog about Nantucket, it gets harder to find anything new or fresh which is true for most of our New England cruising. We never tire of our home cruising grounds but do try to find something new on each trip.
It is a lengthy dinghy ride to reach the public dinghy dock, but anchoring is much less expensive than taking a mooring here. Every penny saved there means more pennies available for enjoyment on shore. Nantucket is not cheap! The yachts at the docks are visible on the way to the dinghy docks. Visible but certainly not close to the public docks.
I am putting this on our list for the next visit – take a tour inside.
The Harbormaster’s office. The walk to the center of town from here is not too bad.
bench was the thoughtful older gentlemen. This year it is a young couple. I don’t know how often it is changed, but it is kind of cool.
The four of us took a bus tour around the island, something we had done in 2019 and thought Don and Cindy might enjoy this overview of the island. Although it was a repeat for us, there were a few new things to see and learn, but it is really hard to take photos from a moving bus!
The bus took us past the Nantucket Cottage Hospital, originally founded in 1911 and supported by the entire community, seasonal and year-round residents, to meet the health care needs of the island.
Bottom: The new facilities built in 1957 to meet the expanding needs of the island.
I think I would like to put this on my to-do list for the next visit to Nantucket. As in visit it rather than just drive by.
We strolled around the Farmers & Artisans Market on Saturday (August 17) morning.
We strolled around the Farmers & Artisans Market on Saturday morning.
How many lobster rolls is this, Cindy?
A unique Nantucket thing is “Nantucket Red.” Not just a color, but a fashion statement. These famous pants and shorts are recognizable as “Nantucket” everywhere. They aren’t really red, but are more of a pinkish hue, sometimes called “dusty rose”, “sunset pink” or even likened to a salmon filet, or a really bad sunburn. In the 1800s Breton fishermen tanned canvas sails with tannins from tree bark to prevent mildewing. When exposed to sun and saltwater, the red hue gradually faded. Leftover canvas was supposedly used by the fishermen for clothing. In the 1960s second-generation owner Philip C. Murray of Murray’s Toggery on Nantucket introduced a cloth similar to the red-sailed boats off the coast of Brittany in France. The “reds” became popular with East coast sailors and soon became known as “Nantucket Red.” And there you have it. For years I have tried to get Al to consent to a pair of Nantucket Red shorts, to no avail.
We continued our strolls through the streets of Nantucket and ended up down by the wharf and docks, naturally. Old North Wharf is a favorite place for a walk. This waterfront area was built in 1770, following the construction of Straight Wharf in 1723 and Old South Wharf in the 1760s. The original structures on Old North Wharf were all destroyed during the fire of 1846. ( “The Daughters of Nantucket” by Julie Gerstenblatt is a historical novel set during that fateful summer. It’s a pretty good read.) By the 1870’s, the area became bustling with fishing and sailing again. At that time, the wharf was full of boat builder workshops, fish shanties, and warehouses.
The Nantucket Islands Land Bank acquired two properties on Easy Street in 2015 and 2017, next to the old North Wharf, and converted it to an attractive waterfront park. Easy Street Park was designed to be a resilient waterfront park with a deliberate eye on flooding. The park has an elevated boardwalk, benches with views of the harbor and Old North Wharf, and sloped garden beds planted with native vegetation that tolerates flooding. A sand layer beneath drains water quickly to reduce flooding issues.
That long line is worth the wait.
We only spent 2 days on Nantucket this time. Once again, with an eye on the weather and sea conditions, we decided Sunday was the day we should depart. Where to? Back to Martha’s Vineyard to visit Edgartown.
Susie Marshall
Looks like you had a nice trip to Nantucket. We loved our stop there…but like you said it can be expensive.
Ellen Seltzer
i LOVED this post…the pictures and please could you buy me “Blondie”? I agree about the wealth of the island…i have a friend who rents a pretty big house for 3 months every year…how nice to have that kind of money…i don’t understand though how you could eat a salad when you could have a lobster roll? we need to talk!
it is a beautiful island…fun to explore and it looks like you had a great time…so happy for both of you! xo